Garment construction



.Fune 2, 1936. J B, RANSLOM 2,042,629

GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 13, 1934 V INVENTOR. r1 fiaiwayyz 7 d 6 A TTORNEYI Patented June 2, 1936 UNHED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2.042.629 GARMENT .GONSTBUG'HON John B. Ransom, Rensselaer, N. Eyassignor :to H. D. Bob Company, Inc., 'N ew York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 13, 1934, Serial No. $757,354

8 Claims. (0192-4115) sleeves are inserted by the single needle method,

the inserting is done. by joining the sleeveto the shirt in one operation and stitching down the underseam in the second operation. "This has been a very unsatisfactory'method due'ito the uneven widthof the seam so produced. To make a good seam by this method requires an experienced operator who must carefully roll in the raw edge of the sleeve after it is run in, taking care to get it uniform in width before stitching it down. This "is a slow process due *to "the fact that only a short edge portion can be turned and sewn at a time, and adds considerable to the cost of production. An uneven seam of this character is unsightly and brands the garment as one of inferior quality. An even seam :on the other hand gives the garment a custom-made appearance and enhance its value and market'- ability.

It is accordingly among the objects of "this 'invention to provide an improvedseam construction and a method whereby "this construction may be secured. 1

An important object is to provide a-method'for attaching the sleeve to a shirt'with am'inimum amount of skilled labor.

Another object'is to provide a method for making finished-seams in garments and especially at the armhole in which only one row of stitching is visible on :the outside of the garment.

A further object is to provide a method for attaching a'sleeve to the body of a garmen't'so that when the seam is stitched it is not -necessary to roll under or hem any edge.

These and other objects which will be apparent from the sequent description are all embracedwithin the scope of this invention, which is illustrated as to a preferred embodimen'tin the accompanying drawing which should not be considered as a limitation thereof but simply as illustrative and in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a portion o'f a com pleted garment specifically illustrated as ashirt;

Figure 2 is a plan view of .a sleeve with the upper edge hemmed;

Figure 3 is .a section View along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of thearrows;

Figure 4 is atop plan view showinga portion of the garment with the sleeve attached by one row .ofastitching;

Figure-5 is an inverted section view along the line 55 -of Fig. 4; Figure 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5, showingan intermediate operation; while Figure 7 is a sectional view along the llne 1 1 of Fig; 1. 0.

This :invention relates broadly to 'the seam construction 10f garments and especially to shirts and the method 'of attaching the sleeves. thereto. It comprises 'a plurality of sewing operations "which the body of the garment is first as- 10 sembled by joining the front panels to the yoke andthe back panels to the yoke. The sleeveis prepared for insertion by sewing a hem across thetop of-the-sleeve, after which it is attached to the body of the garment by stitching it along the armhole opening. One more stitching is then employed to complete the seam for the attachment of the sleeve and involves stitching down "therhemm'ed edge to the garment body.

By follovving the above steps the sleeve may be readilylattached to the shirt with a minimum number fOf operations which are readily performed without the necessity of employing skilled workmen, since all of the operations are very simple sewing steps. As a result "of this process -%it is possible to construct shirts more rapidly and expeditiously, with a marked reduction in the cost of producing a completed garment -;of goodzappearance. 1 Referri=ng .now more specifically to the 'preferred embodiment as illustrated in the drawing, attention 'is directed to Fig. 1, which is a front view of "a major portion of the completed garment. The garment illustrated as a shirt and designated generally as 2 includes two front panels 4 and fi, a yoke 8 and a back "1'0 (see Fig. 4). ":In constructing a garment according to the teachings of this invention, the first steps comprise attaching the back to the yoke 'by "a seam 'l=l ;and joining each of the front panels to the yoke by seams 5 and 1 to provide a structure illustrated generally in Fig.

first operation in connection with attaching rthe sleeve to the body of the garment is the formationof-a'hem along the top of the sleeve..4. on the right side of the material, as shown in 'Fig.'i2. This is accomplished by turningover the upper edge of the sleeve 12 and stitching down the turned over portion at M to form a hemmed edge 15. The rough edge l6 need not be turned under, since it is later hidden in the further construction-of-'the-garment. By hemmingthe upper edge of the sleeve before the sleeve "is inserted in the garment it is not later necessary to turn under zany-edge while the sleeve is being sewed hemmed, as described above and illustrated rir 3 Figs. 2 and 3, the sleeve is laid flat on the work table with the hemmed edge up. "The body of the garment is then placed .withthe right side 'or as the tape is sewed to the top of the sleeve. qAll of the foregoing methods cover the raw edge at the top of the sleeve before insertion into the edge H3. The sleeve is thenattached to the garment by a single row of stitching 20 alongthe,

of hem, or hemming.

down on top of the sleeve in the position il-lus:

trated in Fig. 4, with the hemmed edge M ar-- ranged to follow the contour of the armhole unfinished edge of the armhole I8. This row of stitching 20 is gauged by the edgeof the armhole and the hemmed edge l5 and may be any suitable distance from the hemmed edge-"l5 or the stitches H, but is preferably about one-half inch.

Fig. 5 illustrates a cross section along the line 55 except that the sectional view is inverted to correspond with the view in Fig. 7. From this figure it will be noted that the sleeve I2 is closely associated with the body of the shirt and with a portion of the sleeve projecting beyond the unfinished edge ll; of the armhole. The turned over portion of the sleeve forming the hem l5 and the garment body are both on the same side of the sleeve. In both Figs. 4 and 5 the right or outside of the sleeve is against the right or outside of the garment body.

After the seam stitching 20 has been completed for the length of the armhole, the sleeves position with reference to the garment is changed as by pivoting it about the seam stitching 20. This operation is illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows the sleeve being pivoted about the stitching 20. The sleeve is given a turn of about 180, after which it assumes the position shown, somewhat enlarged, in Fig; 7. The body of the shirt,

6 continues to the armhole opening as limited by the stitching 20 and then is folded under itself. The stitching 20 is normally invisible from the outside of the shirt and there is only a slight break 22 at the folded edge of the body portion of the garment. The turned under edge "l6 of the sleeve I2 is between the sleeve and the body of the shirt 6 and, therefore, unexposed.

When the sleeve has been placed in the position generally illustrated in Fig. '7, the final sleeve inserting operation of stitching down the hemmed edge of the sleeve is performed by sewing an inner row of stitches 24, which completes the armhole seam. It is usually preferable to make seam stitchings 20 and 24 while the inside of the garment is up.

After the sleeves have been attached to the garment alongthe armholes, the under seams of the sleeves. and the side seams 'joining the front panels with the back may be completed by a single stitching begun at either the bottom of the shirt or at the cuff and continued for the entire length of the seam 26. If desired, the underarm seam may be made at an earlier stage of construction, even before the sleeve is attached to the garment, but the foregoing method is preferable. The garment is now ready for completion in the conventional manner by attaching a collar 28 or neckband to the neck opening 30,

double fold hems above described one may use an extra strip of material such as a tape to bind the rough edge. The binding tape if it has rough edges may have these edges turned under before garmentproper and for convenience in expression are considered to come within the terms It will thus be seen that this invention involves a new and useful method for seam construction, of particular utility in attaching the sleeves to the body of the shirt, as well as the resulting structure. It comprises broadly three operations,

hemming the top of the sleeve, running in the sleeve preferably with a folder to give an exact seam on the total bell of the sleeve and stitching down the hemmed edge.

The foregoing operations produce a garment construction in which the armhole seam includes three rows of stitching, although more could be used, if desired, one row of stitching 24, which may be termed an inner row, passing through three thicknesses of material, another row of stitching H passing through two thicknesses of the same piece of material, and a third or outer row of stitching 20 through two layers of different pieces of material.

Having thus described my invention with reference to a, preferred embodiment, what I claim 1. In the process of garment construction, the steps comprising hemming the top of the sleeve, sewing the sleeve into the armhole with'the right faces together and stitching down the hemmed edge to the garment.

2. In the process of shirt construction, the steps of assembling the front, yoke and back, hemming the top of the sleeve, sewing the sleeve into the armhole with the right faces together and. stitching down the hemmed edge to the garment.

3.'Ina process of garment construction, the steps comprising assembling the body of the garment, hemming the top of the sleeve, arranging the sleeve across the outside of the garment, sewing the sleeve into the armhole with the right faces together and stitching down the hemmed edge to the garment.

4. In a process of garment construction, the steps comprising assembling the body of the garment, hemming the top of the sleeve, arranging the sleeve across the outside of the body, sewing the sleeve into the armhole, folding the sleeve away from the body and stitching down the hemmed edge to the body.

5. In a process of shirt construction, the steps comprising joining the front panels to the yoke, joining the back to the yoke, hemming the top of the sleeve, laying the sleeve across the outside of the shirt with the hemmed edge at the armhole, sewing the sleeve into the armhole, folding the sleeve away from the body of the shirt and stitching down the hemmed edge to the shirt.

6. In a process of shirt construction, the steps comprising joining the front panels to the yoke, joining the back to the yoke, hemming the top of the sleeve, laying the sleeve across the outside of the shirt with the hemmed edge at the armhole, sewing the sleeve into the armhole, folding the sleeve away from the body of the shirt, stitching down the hemmed edge to the shirt and sewing the underarm seam.

'7. A shirt construction for attaching the sleeves to the underside of the body of the shirt, an inner seam in which the threads pass through all the body and sleeve layers and an outer seam in which the threads pass through only the sleeve and a turned under layer of the body so as not to be visible on the outside of the shirt and producing a finished edge at the last named seam.

8. In a garment construction, a finished armhole seam comprising three rows of stitching, one row of stitching through the body and two thicknesses of sleeve forming a hem, another row of stitching through two thicknesses of the sleeve to form a hem and the third row of stitching through one turned under thickness of the body and one thickness of the sleeve.

JOHN B. RANSOM. 

